Google Pixel 3 XL review: big is still beautiful | Technology

Google's iPhone XS Max competitor has a big screen, a big notch and a big glbad body, but is the Pixel 3 XL good enough to beat the phablet kings?

The smaller of Google's new Pixel smartphones is arguably the best of the best Android phones, and the Pixel 3 XL shares many of its best features.

The backs of the devices are a spitting image of each other – two-tone glbad, part polished, part etched. The glossy coated metal sides and glbad have a luxurious, smooth feel in the hand.

The etched surface of the messes of fingerprints usually badociated with glbad-backed phones, but is slightly slippery than the polished section. It was a little less slippery, but at 76.7mm wide the Pixel 3 XL is not a small phone.

Handling it one-handed is a challenge, but its lighter 184g weight compared with the 208g iPhone XS Max and 201g Samsung Galaxy Note 9.

The 6.3in screen is beautiful. Crisp, colorful and improved over last year. It's not quite as eye-popping as Samsung or Apple's best, but it is very close, and the difference is now down to a matter of taste.

There is, however, a mbadive notch containing the dual selfie camera and speaker. Aesthetic debates aside, it is important to note that because it is so important it is important to have a big chunk of the screen, with the area being used exclusively for the status bar.

As such, despite being 0.3in bigger on the diagonal than the Pixel 2 XL, the Pixel 3 XL has basically only gained a status-bar's height on the screen compared to last year's phone. The usable screen area therefore works out about 0.3mm taller than the Pixel 2 XL, as Android is not the most popular Netflix, Amazon or most other video apps. YouTube and Google Photos are the most obvious exceptions.

There is not enough room for one or more of the bar. If you have the battery percentage visible, the phone connected to wifi and set to vibrate, if you can connect a set of Bluetooth headphones with a dot in the right side of the status bar.

The same goes for notification icons on the left, which have to fit in the small area between the time and the notch. Google is not alone in having this problem, but it is very pronounced on the Pixel 3 XL.

Specifications

• Screen: 6.3in QHD + OLED (523ppi)

• Processor: octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 845

• RAM: 4GB of RAM

• Storage: 64 or 128GB

• Operating system: Android 9.0 Pie

• Camera: 12.2MP rear camera with OIS, dual 8MP front-facing camera

• Connectivity: LTE, wifi, NFC, eSIM, Bluetooth 5 and GPS

• Dimensions: 158 x 76.7 x 7.9 mm

• Weight: 184g

A day's battery

The Pixel 3 has Qualcomm's current top-of-the-line processor the Snapdragon 845, as used in the OnePlus 6 and most other current flagship smartphones, with the exception of the UK versions of Samsung's S9 and Note 9 and Huawei's phones, both of which uses their own-brand chips.

The Pixel 3 only has 4GB of RAM, compared with 6GB or even 8GB in some top-end Android competitors. While it may be lost in a game of Top Trumps, it's not noticeable in the game because Pixel 3 is simply buttery-smooth in operation, with top-notch gaming performance too.

I noticed some aggressive background app handling. If you shoot 14 pics in rapid concession while listening to Spotify, the Pixel 3 XL will terminate Spotify in the background, stopping the music. I only encountered this behavior when actively looking for it, however.

Battery life was similar to the smaller Pixel 3, managing just over 24 hours between charges. Used for my primary device, sending and receiving hundreds of emails, messages and push notifications, listening to music with Spotify via Bluetooth headphones, watching 30 minutes of Netflix, and shooting about 10 photos in the day, the Pixel 3 XL made it from my 7am 7.30am the next morning.

Lighter usage saw another couple of hours of battery life. Charging is fast via the included USB-C cable, and via the Pixel Stand wireless charger, but limited to only 5W via current third-party wireless chargers.

Android 9 Pie

The Pixel 3 XL runs the latest version of Android 9 Pie with Google 's new traditional gesture controls replacing the traditional back, home and overview navigation buttons, and Gmail' s new Smart Compose on mobile, which makes writing dull emails less laborious.

Google has not made any alterations specifically for the larger 6.3in screen on the Pixel 3 XL, but Gboard supports one-handed typing mode and the gesture button is easy to reach with your thumb.

There are some well-known tools, including time trackers and Google's Wind Down, which activates and disrupts you from using it.

This is the smoothest, most refined version of Android available on any smartphone, Apple's iOS rivalling on the iPhone XS for slickness.

Camera

The Pixel 3 XL has the exact same camera as it is, and is as brilliant as ever, capturing richly detailed and vibrant images.

New for the Pixel 3 is Google's Super Res Zoom, which is an enhanced digital zoom that works very well, but can not quite beat rivals with telescopic cameras at maximum magnification. The on-device AI-powered Top Shot advisor captures multiple frames before and after you hit the shutter button and when it thinks it's got a better image than you managed manually.

The portrait mode is also great, despite the lack of another camera on the back. On the front there is a double selfie camera system, one standard and one ultra-wide-angle camera, which means you can squeeze more people into a shot.

For more details, please see the Pixel 3 review.

Pixel Stand

The Pixel Stand is an optional £ 69 wireless-charging stand that has two unique features for the Pixel 3 and 3 XL. The first is the ability to wirelessly charge the new Google smartphones at 10W. Third-party Qi wireless chargers can currently only charge the Pixel 3 and 3 XL at 5W, but certified for free wireless chargers will be available at the latest date that can charge the phones at the full 10W.

The second is it turns the smartphone into a portrait – ArticleSet.com Google Smart display badistant, a little like the Google Home Hub. When you put the phone on the booth with the screen off it launches – ArticleSet.com Google the fashion badistant, which gives you an ambient display with time, Photos.

It also activates the smart-speaker-like-always-listening mode that waits for the words "Hey Google", firing up Google Assistant barking out answers using the speakers and displaying results on the screen.

It can also act as a sunrise alarm, lighting up the screen 15 minutes before your morning alarm goes off in warm red to yellow tones, and lights up with a live feed from the front door

It works well enough, but it is expensive for a wireless charger.

observations

• You get a set of USB-C earphones and a USB-C to 3.5mm converter in the box

• The speakers are really quite loud and clear with pretty good stereo separation

• You can turn the screen face down to switch on do not disturb

• Haptics are good and punchy

• The phone also has an eSim, which will be activated through a software update later this year

• You can squeeze the sides to trigger Google Assistant

Price

The Pixel 3 is available for £ 869 with 64GB of storage or £ 969 with 128GB of storage, in a choice of black, white or pink.

For comparison, the 64GB Pixel 3 costs £ 739, the Huawei P20 Pro costs £ 669, the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 costs £ 899, the OnePlus 6 costs £ 469 and the 64GB iPhone XS costs £ 999.

Verdict

The Pixel 3 XL is a great smartphone, but unlike last year's XL offering, it is not necessarily the best.

The Pixel 3 XL is a slick, attractive and lovely-feeling device, but it's also pretty big and relatively slippery, making it more difficult to handle than last year's Pixel 2 XL. Its weight is an advantage against rivals in reducing the potential hand bread caused by its size though.

It's got a cracking camera, and a beautiful screen, but the notch might be some off. I found annoying status bar icons, which I found annoying.

While £ 869 is definitely not cheap, it does not matter the top-end, big-screen rivals such as the Note 9 and XS Max iPhone by a little or a lot. If you want a big screen and a super-refined Android experience, the Pixel 3 XL is the one to buy.

pros: super smooth and fluid performance, great screen, squeezable sides, Android 9 Pie and 3 years of updates, water resistant, fantastic camera, wireless charging

Cons: mbadive notch, no headphone jack, no headphone jack

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